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March 8, 2012

NASA Tweetups Are Evolving

by editor

NASA is expanding its successful program of Tweetups to include more social media platforms, broadening the agency's use of social media to engage audiences about the agency's mission of exploration and discovery. As part of this effort, the "NASA Tweetup" will now be known as "NASA Social."

Since 2009, NASA has hosted 34 in-person Tweetups, which are informal meetings of people who use the social messaging medium Twitter. Hundreds of participants have shared thousands of tweets, pictures, videos and blog posts with their followers, detailing behind-the-scenes views of NASA launches, centers, missions and speakers. The agency's primary Twitter account, @NASA, has nearly 2 million followers. Multiple NASA missions and centers maintain Twitter accounts as well. NASA's innovative use of Twitter has been recognized as one of the best in federal government.

"NASA has been recognized for its efforts in social media and we want to build on that success, engaging in an online conversation that seamlessly spans platforms, taking advantage of the diverse online social experience that each enables," said David Weaver, associate administrator for communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "A Tweetup is identified with a specific online service and many participants are members of other Internet communities. We felt it was time to expand the Tweetup concept to embrace other social media platforms."

The agency also has a significant presence on Flickr, YouTube, Google+, Facebook, Foursquare and other social media websites. NASA Socials will allow the agency to better expand online and in-person programs to connect with audiences following NASA on a growing variety of social media websites.